Hoboken City Council approves introduction and first reading of $101 million city budget

The Hoboken City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to introduce a $101,721,865 municipal budget which will cover the city's operations throughout the entire calendar year, or from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2011.

The city also introduced a $54 million municipal tax levy, which Mayor Dawn Zimmer said represents 10 percent cut in the amount city taxpayers have to pay for the operations city government as the city transitioned from operating on a a fiscal year to a calendar year budget.

The budget also allows for a $25 million surplus of which about $5 million is available for emergency expenses. It also accounts for $3 million in retroactive pay to Hoboken police officers who have approved contracts for the first time since 2007.

The focus, said city Finance Director Nick Trasente, was on cutting operating expenses by reducing salaries and wages by about $4 million which was achieved through layoffs and the retirements of city employees.

"We did do more than just skimming off the top of a few small things," he said.

The council voted 9-0 to approve the first reading of the budget and will host public hearings on March 9 and 23 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.